Live in Burnley? It is one of the unhappiest places in the UK

Susan Plunkett

Burnley is one of the unhappiest places to live in the UK.

Those are the findings of a recent survey from the Office of National Statistics which recorded levels of personal well-being in the UK between October, 2015 and 2016 to reveal the areas of the UK where life satisfaction is lowest.

And Burnley ranked as the third unhappiest place to live, with Corby topping the chart and West Lancashire coming in second.

In the poll, the public were asked the following four questions: How satisfied are you with your life nowadays?

To what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile? How happy did you feel yesterday? and finally How anxious did you feel yesterday?

According to the responses, the areas of the UK with the lowest levels of well-being are all in England, and six of them are in London.

But a spokesman for Burnley Council said the local authority believed the statistics selected “misrepresented” the situation in the borough.

The spokesman said: “Our focus is on getting on with a range of initiatives that are about building on all of Burnley’s positive strengths, such as continuing to attract jobs and investment.

“We do, of course, recognise the importance of promoting well-being, which is why we work with Burnley Leisure and many other organisations on activities and initiatives that can make a big contribution to this”.

Preston came in as the fourth unhappiest place to live and the other towns listed were mainly all Midlands and South.

Office for National Statistics representative Matthew Steel said: “At a time when economic measures are generally improving, this is not necessarily reflected in how people tell us they are feeling about their lives.

“Whilst it is too early to say why anxiety ratings have increased slightly and why life satisfaction, happiness and worthwhile ratings have levelled off in the past 12 months, we know from our previous research that factors impacting most on people’s personal well-being include health, work situation and relationship status.”

But it is not all bad news for Burnley as the latest glum findings come hot on the heels of a survey by a leading national newspaper that found that Burnley was the friendliest town in Britain.